FONTANA, Calif. -- A week after his bid to make the championship chase ended, Kurt Busch earned the pole for Sunday's Sony HD 500 at California Speedway.

Busch won his series-high fifth pole of the season with a lap of 184.540 mph. Brian Vickers starts second, tying his season-best starting spot. He ran 184.049 mph. Rookie Clint Bowyer, Scott Riggs and rookie Martin Truex Jr. completed the top five.

Mark Martin, who holds the last transfer spot to the Chase, qualified 38th.

"I just messed up my lap out there," Martin said. "These guys all ran faster, so I tried to run too fast, but we're all right."

Kasey Kahne, who trails Martin by 90 points for the last transfer spot, qualified ninth.

Bill Lester, attempting to make his third Cup start this season, failed to make the race when he spun on his qualifying lap. Todd Kluever also failed to qualify for Roush Racing.

Kluever's failure could fuel rumors that he might not replace Martin next season. Roush Racing had stated that Kluever would take over when Martin moved to the truck series next year. Since then, reports have stated that Kluever might not drive the car or share it with Martin, who wants to do some Cup races next year but not a full schedule.

Martin said before qualifying that he's not the guy for the No. 6 car again.

"There never has been ever a consideration for me to drive the 6 car in '07," Martin said. "Everybody is way too worried about 2007 right now."

No deal

Robby Gordon said Friday that he came "very close" to buying half of Robert Yates Racing, but the deal failed.

"We had funding and sponsorship in place for the 88 car," said Gordon, referring to one of Yates' two cars. "We have our car funded. I wanted to buy half of [Yates'] two cars. That was the deal. I wasn't going to do it unless I could own half of those cars.

"We agreed on everything and the day it was supposed to happen, it didn't."

Gordon said the conversation has been "dead" since the day after the Michigan race.

"It's unfortunate it's dead," Gordon said. "I think I could have been a good coach for two young drivers."

Gordon continues to look for ways to be affiliated with a multi-car operation. He's one of the few single-car teams. He ranks 24th in car owner points -- highest among the single-car teams.

Learning on the fly

The last time Kyle Busch was at California Speedway, he was answering questions about his driving and a run-in with Tony Stewart during the Daytona 500.

He returns minus controversy and fourth in the season standings. The difference?

"I might have become a bit smarter racer, which put me in some different situations throughout the year," said Busch, who won this race a year ago. "You know, we've just kind of been going along and finding our own way and finding our own peace with the series.

"It's all about trying to come into the sport and realize it's not all about you."

Pit stops

Busch series points leader Kevin Harvick said he'll "probably" just run the companion Busch races next year instead of the entire schedule. ... Ernie Cope will serve as Ken Schrader's crew chief this weekend, as his regular crew chief, Michael McSwain, remained at the Wood Brothers shop to complete other work.